You or someone you know has probably tried the Keto Diet and didn’t lose weight, so you think all Keto Diets Fail. We will cover the primary reasons people fail to lose weight on Keto and how to prevent them. You may think that it is all willpower, but you will see how it is all knowledge.
Keto Diet in a Nutshell
The basic principle of the Keto diet for weight loss is that a state of ketosis will help you burn your fat stores as energy. Even if you have been on a low-carbohydrate diet, you may have never reached a sustained level of ketosis. Many people think they know why ketosis works, but there are many misconceptions.
You Don’t want to lose muscle
If you have been on a diet you probably remember a lot of label reading and calorie counting. Most diets to lose weight are calorie-reduction diets. These diets help you lose weight, but some of the weight is from fat and some of it is from lean muscle tissue. You really don’t want to lose that lean muscle your body has worked so hard for.
While you may look smaller on the scale during these diets, your metabolism may actually be slowing down. The more muscle you lose the slower your metabolism will be. This makes losing weight more difficult and gaining weight back even easier.
It May Not Be Easy and the Keto Diets Fail Before it Starts
The Keto diet is also carbohydrate and calorie-restrictive. Keto is also protein restrictive and fat-rich. It is not easy to create a state of ketosis at first. This is because there are a lot of processes at the cellular level that your body hasn’t had to use for a long time. Your body is designed to burn fat, but if it has an ample supply of easy-to-use carbohydrates these processes just slow until they turn off.
Kick Start Ketosis
There are ways to help your body kick-start ketosis. They are not all guaranteed since everyone’s body is different. The best way to get into ketosis is to provide your body with a healthy supply of good fat. You must reduce your carbs to nearly 0 at first and less than 1/3 calories from protein as from fat. If you really want to kick start ketosis you can exercise until your body shifts over to burning fat after all the sugars are gone. There are no magic pills for kick-starting ketosis; we will discuss this later when we discuss test strips.
Once you get your body into a high level of ketosis you will burn only fat and not muscle. The primary source of your energy for your body will be fat in the form of ketones. Your liver will convert fat into ketones and it cannot be easily converted back. If you are having trouble getting your body into ketosis there are herbs that help burn fat, Garcinia Cambogia is one such herb, and here are some of its benefits.
23 Remarkable Health Benefits of Garcinia Cambogia
Ketosis is Normal and Why Keto Diets Fail Less Than You Think
Ketones are actually a normal and efficient source of fuel for the human body. They are created in the liver from the fatty acids that result from the breakdown of body fat. These only appear when there is an absence of glucose and sugar. In the Keto diet, you reduce the amount of glucose and sugar that is in the bloodstream. As a result, your body produces ketones for fuel.
Are Keto Diets Dangerous?
There is a common misconception that following a ketogenic diet is dangerous. The truth is that being in ketosis is a completely natural state. You are designed to create ketones to use as fuel in the absence of glucose. Endurance athletes can get to the state of ketosis during long races when the body shifts it fuels source to ketones. Many runners feel a surge of energy when this happens and call it “getting their second wind.” So your fastest way to ketosis is through hard work.
Track Your Ketosis
When you are on a Keto diet you should use ketone-testing strips to determine your state of ketosis during dieting. These small plastic strips are held in the urine stream and contain a special chemically treated absorptive pad. This pad will change color if ketones are present in the urine. With the presence of ketones, the strip will change varying shades of pink to purple. There is a color scale on the label of the bottle that will help you determine your ketone levels.
Ketone strips are available in most pharmacies because of their use for people who have diabetes. Some stores keep ketone strips behind the counter so you may have to ask for them. Once you open a package of ketosis strips they have a shelf life of 6 months. You don’t want to store the strips in the bathroom or in high humidity. Make sure you keep the bottle closed as much as possible. You should mark the date that you opened them and dispose of them after 6 months.
Don’t Worry If You Don’t See Ketones
Ketone strips will let inform you if you are progressing correctly on the Keto diet or not. If you are following the Keto plan to the letter and aren’t seeing purple, don’t worry too much. This doesn’t mean that you should quit or think your Keto diets fail. Some people never show trace amounts of ketones or they may show just above the minimum line. As long as you are losing weight and inches then you are successfully using ketones. Also, if you’ve just exercised a few hours before using the strips, you may not see purple.
A High Level of Ketones is Bad
Some dieters may mistakenly believe that a dark purple result on the testing strips means that they are losing weight faster. Actually, the darkest purple color is a sign of dehydration. If you are dehydrated it will actually work against you in dieting. Water is essential to your metabolism and it will slow down if you don’t have enough water.
Ketones come from fat in the bloodstream, whether it is fat that you eat or fat that you burn. So if you eat a meal heavy in fat and then immediately use a testing strip, they may see a dark purple result. You should use the strips as a guide, but don’t get hung up on the color.
Best Keto Pills and False Positives
There are many Keto Pills on the market now that contain beta-hydroxybutyrate (BHB) which are ketones but will not help you reach ketosis. BHB is a ketone that is tested for in test strips and they are a source of energy for your body. They can prevent your body from entering ketosis and will give you a false positive on a keto test. If you are taking BHB to enter keto and then testing for it you are really seeing your wasted money flow right through you. All the dark purple you see is the beta-hydroxybutyrate that your body didn’t use.
Why Take Beta-Hydroxybutyrate
There are some good reasons to take these keto pills. The primary is for extra energy, they are a source of energy your body can use right away. Just know that taking them may delay your body’s ability to start its own ketosis. If your body has an ample supply of energy it won’t see the need to burn its energy stores. Another reason to take these keto pills is to reduce the effects of the Keto Flu. The best way to prevent the Keto Flu is to stay hydrated and have enough electrolytes. Taking BHB can also help reduce the Keto Flu symptoms as well. Taking BHB may prevent you from having your keto diets fail.
Reaching a state of ketosis is key to success on the Keto diet and it is not just as simple as eliminating carbohydrates from the diet. Make sure to follow an eating plan correctly and use the ketone testing strips as needed.
Here are some other great tips to succeed in any diet.
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